New Site Communicates IT System Outages and Maintenance

The University IT Help Desk has introduced a new website to better communicate IT service outages, disruptions, and maintenance with the University community. IT Notices, available at www.rochester.edu/it/notices, replaces the IT Emergency Notification System (ITENS), which was outdated and difficult to maintain.

“University IT evaluated the previous IT notices site and determined that it no longer met the needs of the University,” Cynthia Hervey, University IT Help Desk Manager, said. “So we developed a new site that is flexible, robust, and more efficient.”

All notices are now categorized by the type of activity, indicated with a symbol to the right of the notice’s title, for information at a glance. Users also have access to previous notices — rather than just the current ones — and can sort notices by category, date, or service affected.

Any staff or faculty that want to receive the latest IT notices via email can subscribe on the site. Community members who already receive email notifications about these activities will continue to receive them; no action is required.

“With increasing reliance on IT systems in day-to-day activities, the University community needs to be aware of the status and planned maintenance of these systems,” Hervey said.

The IT Notices site is only accessible from the University network. Users must either connect to the University network on campus (wired or wireless) or remotely connect through Virtual Private Network (VPN) from off campus locations. (Directions for how to use VPN are located online at www.rochester.edu/it/vpn.)

The University IT Help Desk welcomes feedback on the site and recommendations for future improvements at univithelp@rochester.edu.

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